172 



EXPERIMENT STATION. 



[Jan. 



While these are average results, there were, as always, some 

 exceptional cases of individual vines which showed a marked 

 ability to transmit their individual characters to their offspring. 

 The selection of such prepotent plants is evidently an important 

 matter in plant breeding. In order to exhibit this difference we 

 have computed a coefficient of heredity for each parent and for 

 each character under study, as shown in the following table. 

 These computations were made from the following formula : — 



C = 



o-D 



In this formula 



C = Coefficient of heredity. 

 cr = Standard deviation of offspring. 



D = Difference between numerical value of the parent character and 

 mean of the same character in the progeny. 



In examining this table it must be understood that only the 

 coefficients in the same vertical columns are directly comparable 

 with one another. 



It will be seen that with respect to length of vine parents G, 

 K and C were the most prepotent ; that with respect to the pro- 

 duction of pods parents K, J and E were the most prepotent; 

 that in the matter of peas per pod parents B, K and A were the 

 most prepotent; that as to total j^eas parents K, J and B take 

 the lead. 



